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USA: FDA warns against TikTok challenge of cooking chicken in NyQuil cough syrup, says it is dangerous even if not eaten

OpIndia Staff
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USA: FDA warns against TikTok challenge of cooking chicken in NyQuil cough syrup, says it is dangerous even if not eaten

After a challenge to cook chicken in NyQuil, a cough medicine, went viral on social media in the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning against it. The FDA said that cooking chicken in NyQuil or similar medicine can be dangerous even if the chicken is not eaten, and advised parents on how to prevent their kids from trying this unhealthy challenge.

“The challenge sounds silly and unappetizing — and it is. But it could also be very unsafe,” the FDA said in an advisory issued on its website. According to the notification, boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways. Therefore, even if the chicken is not eaten, inhaling the medication’s vapours while cooking could cause high levels of the drugs to enter the body. The FDA warned that it can also hurt the lungs.

“Put simply: Someone could take a dangerously high amount of the cough and cold medicine without even realizing it,” FDA added.

Nyquil Cough Syrup contains acetaminophen, dextromethorphan, and doxylamine, and inhaling its vapour can cause sleepiness, the reason why the recipe challenge that has gone viral on TikTok is called “sleepy chicken”. The challenge involved cooking chicken breasts drenched in NyQuil in a pan.

In one such TikTok video, the person attempting the challenge says that sometimes the steam coming out of the NyQuil-Chicken makes him sleepy. The chicken is seen turning blue, from the colour of the cough syrup. It is notable that in the video that has gone viral, the person is using Nighttime, a different brand with the same composition as Nyquil.

FDA also said that such dangerous challenges involving medicine keep appearing on social media, like a TikTok challenge in 2020 that urged people to take large doses of the allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) to try to induce hallucinations. Several teenagers had to be hospitalised after this challenge, and there were even reports of deaths. FDA had issued a warning at that time also.

Meet Robert Carter alias Muhammad Ali, the anti-India propagandist spreading falsehoods over Hinduphobic attacks in the UK

Amit Kelkar
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Meet Robert Carter alias Muhammad Ali, the anti-India propagandist spreading falsehoods over Hinduphobic attacks in the UK

Robert Carter, aka Muhammad Ali, is a journalist, news editor, and TV presenter. Muhammad was born Robert Carter, but he converted to Islam at the age of 16 and adopted the name, Muhammad Ali. In recent times, he has been actively speaking against Hindus and spreading misinformation to bolster his own propaganda in favour of Islamism. Carter, who is much like the fake news peddler CJ Werleman, runs his own YouTube channel and uses social media to spread misinformation and spread fake news.

Carter claims Islam helped him ‘deal with anxiety’

In 2021, while speaking about his experiences with Islam for the ‘A New Person’ YouTube channel, Carter claimed that at the age of 16, he converted to Islam, and it has been ‘the best decision’ of his life. Carter came from a broken family with problematic childhood. Something that made him vulnerable to getting influenced by anyone who could leave an impression on him, and this is exactly what happened.

At the age of 14, he made a Muslim friend, and the next two years of his life were spent around Muslims. While his mother was a non-religious person, the new group seems to have subtly pulled him towards Islam. He mentioned how he was introduced to Quran and Islamic practices. As every person who is introduced to a new religion, he was also shown the positive side of Islam.

Interestingly, during the 16-minute monologue, he seemed much ‘impressed’ by the Arab rulers who ‘spread’ Islam to make the world a ‘better place’. Carter mentioned that he was having mental health issues like anger management issues, depression, family problems, and more. But obvious, a teenager facing such problems will be vulnerable to outside influence, and this was the time he came in contact with the Islamic teachings and practices. Carter claimed that converting to Islam helped him deal with anxiety, and he became an outgoing person from a shy one.

Cater’s anti-Hindu propaganda

OpIndia examined his anti-Hindu and anti-India posts and videos for the last two years and found some seriously problematic posts and videos where he published fake and misleading reports. On his verified Twitter handle, Bob_cart124, Robert Carter can be seen spreading anti-Hindu propaganda. In the light of recent anti-Hindu attacks in the United Kingdom’s Leicester, followed by the incident of Birmingham where a 200-strong Islamist mob circled a Hindu temple and raised ‘Allah Hu Akbar’ slogans while abusing Hindus, Carter peddled misinformation to portray Hindus as the culprits.

In a recent Twitter post, Carter claimed that the attack on the Hindu temple in Birmingham was in response to the event of Sadhvi Ritambhara. Interestingly, if that had been the case, the Islamists would not gather outside the Hindu temple to intimidate the Hindus at the event, instead, the whole UK trip of Sadhvi was already postponed owing to her poor health. Despite being aware of the update about the event, Islamists decided to go ahead and circle the Hindu temple. They raised slogans like Allah Hu Akbar, climbed the temple walls, and abused Hindus present inside the premises. One of the protesters even threatened Hindus who support BJP and RSS, saying they are not welcome in the UK.

Carter tried to propagate that Muslims attacked Hindu temple to protest against the already-postponed event of Sadhvi Ritambhara. Source: Twitter.

In another post, he propagated that Hindus are suffering not because of Islamists but because of ‘Hindutva’. He proclaimed that Hindutva is the “real” reason behind the attacks on Hindus. He quoted another propagandist Aina J Khan, a British journalist of Pakistan origin, who had published a misleading thread on the anti-Hindu attacks happening in Leicester. He wrote, “You want proof Indian Hindutva extremism is being exported to Britain? Locals proudly defending fascist RSS membership in Leicester. Hindus openly backing RSS is like a Muslim backing Daesh.”

Carter echoed anti-Hindu reporting by British journalist Aina J Khan of Pakistani origin. Source: Twitter

While the attacks on Hindus in Leicester started after India defeated Pakistan in T20 Asia Cup, Carter claimed in several posts that Hindus attacked Muslims and said it was not about cricket. He said, “Leicester’s Hindu-Muslim violence is NOT about cricket. It’s about Hindu extremism, racism and police failings.”

Carter Propagated that the attacks on Hindus was because of ‘Hindutva’ and ‘Hindu extremism’. Source: Twitter

In July, he covered a blatant anti-India protest by Islamists in the UK that alleged India was committing genocide of Muslims and minorities. A Completely false allegation but Carter went ahead and supported the “cause” and published the report proudly with “worried” expressions. The posters shown in the video claimed PM Modi and CM Yogi Adityanath are wanted for “Crimes Against Humanity”? Wanted Where? The blatant lies in the posters and the speeches given in the video were absolutely anti-India and anti-Hindu.

Carter covered an anti-India and anti-Hindu protest claiming Hindus want to kill Muslims. Source: Twitter

He also backed the Hijab issue and tweeted in support of the Muslim girl Muskaan who claimed Hindus attacked her outside college and she faced them while chanting ‘Allah Hu Akbar’. Muskaan was praised by several terrorist organizations as well.

Carter posted tweets in favour of pro-Hijab Islamists. Source: Twitter.

He also talked about it in a video monologue where he claimed that the ‘right wing’ Hindus and the government were attacking Muslims and Islam. He claimed that the government of Karnataka banned the hijab as a part of propaganda against Islam. In reality, the students who started wearing Hijab never wore the same for years. There was photographic proof that it was a recent movement by a small group of Muslim female students who started wearing hijabs and when the school administration asked them to follow the dress code, they protested. The issue is currently sub-judice in the Supreme Court.

Carter has been publishing anti-India reports for a long time. In November 2020, he interviewed a Muslim music group that had released a video on Kashmir. Visibly promoting violence against India in the video, the “artists” claimed that their music video is a reminder for Kashmiris that they were not alone. The group included members from Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. Before and after the interview, Carter propagated anti-India notions and stated Human Rights abuses were common in the state. He conveniently ignored the fact that it is Islamic terrorism that has been causing pain to the region. Since the abrogation of Article 370 in the valley, the region has been progressing slowly but steadily. Interestingly, many companies have shown interest in opening businesses in the valley, and for the first time in more than 30 years, a theatre was recently opened in Kashmir.

In a video on August 16, 2021, he covered an anti-India protest in Birmingham where the protesters claimed Indian forces were “ransacking” villages and “raping” women. Similar lies about the Indian Army and security forces are being propagated by the Pakistani media and international media at the behest of anti-India forces including the Pakistani government, ISI and others. There are multiple videos where he interviews Islamists propagating anti-India sentiment over the abrogation of Article 370, the killing of terrorist Burhan Wani and more. These can be seen here and here.

Carter, who has worked for Muslim publications like 5Pillars, Ahlulbayt Television Network and more, have a long history of propagating anti-Hindu and anti-India sentiments. Like other alleged journalists including CJ Werleman, whose account was recently withheld in India for his anti-India content, Carter runs an agenda to paint a bad picture of India, Modi-led Indian government and Hindus in general. Interestingly, he does not use his Muslim name for reporting possibly to give it an ‘authentic’ tone in the eyes of the viewers in the west.

VHP writes to United Kingdom PM Liz Truss seeking action against attacks on Hindus in the country

OpIndia Staff
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VHP writes to United Kingdom PM Liz Truss seeking action against attacks on Hindus in the country

On September 21, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) wrote to Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Liz Truss and sought appropriate action against the attacks on Hindus in the country. In its letter, VHP pointed out that anti-Hindu forces are trying to portray the recent attacks on Hindus as if the Hindus of the area had triggered the wanton violence, and they were responsible for the same. VHP urged the newly appointed UK PM to take immediate and appropriate action to ensure the safety of the Hindus in the UK.

VHP said, “The Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council) is deeply concerned and alarmed at the ongoing violence in Leicester in which a large number of Hindus of Leicester, their places of worship, their cultural and religious symbols have been wantonly targeted and damaged by Islamic extremists and hoodlums. These violent, hateful, and extremist acts are entirely unidirectional and unilateral. However, a strong but false narrative is being constructed that it is the Hindus of that area who triggered this wanton violence and are responsible for the same.”

VHP pointed out that following the attacks on Hindus, several of them were admitted to the hospital. Hindu places of worship in Leicester were violated and desecrated. They also pointed out that an attack happened on September 20 on a Hindu religious establishment in Smethwick in Birmingham.

VHP said, “Hindus are being terrorized to remove symbols of their heritage, traditions, culture, and religion, and a few Leicester Hindus had, out of fear, to comply.” It further added that houses and properties of Hindus are being targeted, and several were damaged. “Many Hindus living in the impacted area have not sent their kids to school for several days now. Nothing of this sort has happened to Muslims, Islamic symbols, or places of worship,” VHP said.

Calling Hindus peaceful and law-abiding by nature, VHP said, “UK-Hindus, who constitute a minuscule 1.5% of UK’s population, have contributed significantly to their adopted homeland economically, culturally, and educationally. A very large number of UK Hindus are self-employed and provide jobs to others.” The organization reminded what late PM Margaret Thatcher had stated in a public event addressing Hindus. She had said, “You have taught us, in this country, so much about the family, and we must continually keep it in mind. You are a great asset to the UK.”

VHP said that there was a lack of action from the Police and administration in the attacks against Hindus, and the community has continuously been subjected to violence and intimidation since September 4, 2022.

It said, “We request that strong and immediate efforts be made to protect Hindu lives, dignity, and properties. We also urge that strong punitive action be taken against all who are involved in such violent and heinous hate crimes. Sans such strong actions, the peace and social fabric of the country will get damaged. The law and order and the due protection of law to all Hindus, particularly in Leicester and Birmingham, must be provided.”

VHP said that the Leicester riots should not be seen as a one-off event and the riots were part of a continuum. “They arise from an ideology of hate, aggression, and violence. The riots are merely the most recent manifestation of Islamic extremism, which has hurt the UK (and other countries) over the last several decades. Earlier acts included the London-metro bombings, the 2017 London Bridge attack, and the deadly stabbing near London Bridge in 2019. All of these acts have been inspired by extremist and violent ideologies,” VHP added.

VHP urged the PM to take a comprehensive approach to handling periodic surges of violence and terrorism, which are caused by extremist ideologies, and offered support as the UK government deemed appropriate.

VHP further stated that they had approached High Commissioner UK in India for an appointment to convey their concerns over the recent incidents of violence against Hindus, but they did not get any response.

CBI says no criminality found in Niira Radia tapes, Supreme Court directs it to file a status report

OpIndia Staff
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CBI says no criminality found in Niira Radia tapes, Supreme Court directs it to file a status report

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court instructed the CBI to provide a progress report on the probe into corporate lobbyist Niira Radia’s intercepted talks. A three-judge panel led by Justice D Y Chandrachud was hearing a petition filed by entrepreneur Ratan Tata seeking privacy protection in view of the emergence of the Radia tapes.

“We will have it after the vacations as there is a Constitution Bench next week. Meanwhile, the CBI may file an updated status report,” the three-judge bench that also included Justices Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha stated on September 21. The matter is posted for the next hearing on October 12.

This is after the Central Bureau of Probe (CBI) informed the Supreme Court that no wrongdoing was discovered as a result of an investigation into the intercepted discussions of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia with politicians, business leaders, media figures, and others.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the CBI, also told the SC bench that a plea filed by industrialist Ratan Tata seeking protection of his right to privacy in light of the release of the Radia tapes may be dismissed in light of the Supreme Court’s right to privacy ruling.

“I must inform you that the CBI was directed by your lordship to investigate all these conversations. Fourteen preliminary inquiries were registered and the report was placed before your lordships in a sealed cover. No criminality was found in those. Also, now there are phone-tapping guidelines in place”, Bhati was quoted.

The petitioner’s attorney meanwhile informed the Supreme Court that another petition had been filed by the NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), which had requested that these transcripts be made public in the greater public interest. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the CPIL, stated that Radia was a corporate lobbyist for two of the most prominent businesses and that there were attempts to influence public figures, among other things, which were uncovered.

Earlier in 2013, the Supreme Court had ordered a CBI investigation into six problems raised by the analysis of corporate lobbyist Niira Radia’s taped conversations. “Radia’s conversations reveal deep-rooted malice by private enterprises in connivance with government officials for extraneous purposes,” the top court had said.

The Supreme Court was reviewing Tata’s plea for action against individuals involved in the tape leak, arguing that the leakage violated his fundamental right to life, which includes the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution. He said that as a business lobbyist, Radia’s phone was wiretapped to investigate alleged tax evasion and that the tapes could not be used for any other reason.

The discussions were recorded as part of the monitoring of Radia’s phone following a report to the Finance Minister on November 16, 2007, saying that she had developed a business empire worth Rs 300 crore in nine years. The government had recorded 180 days of Radia’s chats, beginning on August 20, 2008, and ending on October 19, 2008. Following a new order, her phone was placed under surveillance for another 60 days on May 11, 2009.

‘Struggling to maintain mental balance’: Swara Bhasker consulting doctors due to ‘online trolling’, her new film had turned super flop

OpIndia Staff
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‘Struggling to maintain mental balance’: Swara Bhasker consulting doctors due to ‘online trolling’, her new film had turned super flop

Bollywood actor Swara Bhasker, whose recent movie ‘Jahan Chaar Yaar’ tanked miserably at the box office, recently confessed to seeking consultation from doctors to maintain her mental balance. The actor said she sought the help of doctors to battle online trolling that has taken a toll on her mental health.

Bhasker recently lamented that she continues to be an object of online trolling and has received death threats on social media. As per a report published by ABP News, Bhasker is ailing from mental issues and has been in constant touch with her doctors to maintain her balance. The actor made the revelation on a talk show, ‘Connect FM Canada’.

Bhasker also spoke about the boycott calls faced by the Bollywood movies of late, alleging that a concerted attempt is underway to target Hindi films and to ensure they fail at the box office. However, it is worth noting that Bhasker’s ‘Jahan Chaar Yaar’ has failed to attract audiences to theatres despite facing no such boycott calls.

During her interview, Bhasker also came down heavily against Akshay Kumar, although the actor had also faced boycott calls recently after old Hinduphobic tweets by his film Raksha Bandhan’s writer had gone viral on social media. Bhasker said she disagreed with the kind of movies Kumar lends his support to. She added that Bollywood needs to stand up in unison against the concerted boycott calls and tackle the problem head-on. 

Bhasker’s interview came close on the heels of her recent release ‘Jahan Chaar Yaar’, which has received critical reviews from both critics and audiences alike. The film has an IMDb rating of 1.1, making it one of the worst films of all time. AAP leaders and their wives had also attended a special screening, but it seemed to have little impact in drawing audiences to the theatres. 

French President Emmanuel Macron praises PM Modi at UNGA for his ‘Not an era of war’ message to Russian President Putin 

OpIndia Staff
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French President Emmanuel Macron praises PM Modi at UNGA for his ‘Not an era of war’ message to Russian President Putin 

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stance on the continuing Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying, “He was correct!” Macron referred to Prime Minister Modi’s statement, in which he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that this is not an era of war. “Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India was correct when he said the time is not for war. It is not to get revenge on the West or to pit the West against the East. It is time for our sovereign equal states to come together to meet the issues we face collectively, ” he stated.

Macron made the statement at the 77th United Nations General Assembly, which is now taking place in New York City. PM Modi and Russian President Putin recently met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

PM Modi stated during the meeting, “Today’s era is not one of war, as I mentioned on the phone. Today we will get the opportunity to discuss how we might go forward on the path of peace. For numerous decades, India and Russia have maintained a close relationship.”

“We spoke on the phone multiple times on India-Russia bilateral relations and other issues. We must find solutions to the issues of food security, fuel security, and fertilizers. I’d like to appreciate Russia and Ukraine for their assistance in evacuating our students from Ukraine,” PM Modi added.

In response to Prime Minister Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he is aware of India’s stance on the Ukraine crisis and that “we want all of this to stop as quickly as possible.” Putin stated that Russia-India relations are in the form of a privileged strategic partnership that is rapidly developing.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also backed PM Modi’s stand, saying the US welcomes it. He said PM Modi made a statement of principle on behest of what he believes is right.

“I think what Prime Minister Modi said — a statement of principle on behalf of what he believes is right and just — was very much welcomed by the United States and for the Indian leadership, which has longstanding relationships in Moscow, from the very top all the way through the Russian government, to persist to reinforce that message that now is the time for the war to end,” Sullivan said in response to a question about PM Modi’s statement on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.

Since meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Shanghai Corporation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is getting praise from the American media. The meeting between PM Modi and President Putin dominated the headlines in the United States.

The American mainstream media has hailed Prime Minister Modi and reported that he has rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin over the Ukraine conflict. The Washington Post published an article titled ‘Modi reprimands Putin on Ukraine’ on PM Modi and President Putin’s conversation at the SCO meeting, in which it was reported, complimenting PM Modi, that the Indian Prime Minister told the Russian President, ‘This is not a moment for war.’ According to the Washington Post, this was stunning, and PM Modi rebuked Putin, stating, ‘Today’s era is not one of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.’ The Washington Post called it a “rare contempt”.

Similarly, the lead story in New York Times on September 16 was “Amid Russia’s growing international isolation, India’s leader tells Putin that today is no time for war”. NYT wrote that it underlined Russia’s increasing international isolation. Forbes wrote that it marked the first public criticism of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine by India after months of neutrality. CNBC went ahead and claimed that Modi directly assailed Putin over the nearly seven-month-long conflict in Ukraine. Politico described it as yet another diplomatic setback hit by Putin, saying that Modi’s disapproval came just a day after Putin publicly admitted that China’s President Xi Jinping harbored “questions” and “concerns” over the war. CNN also called it the latest in a series of setbacks for the Russian leader.

Gujarat: SIT files charge-sheet against Teesta Setalvad, RB Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt for fabricating evidence in Gujarat riots case

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: SIT files charge-sheet against Teesta Setalvad, RB Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt for fabricating evidence in Gujarat riots case

In the case of forgery of evidence related to the Gujarat riots of 2002, the Gujarat Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a charge sheet against Mumbai-based activist Teesta Setalvad, retired DGP R B Sreekumar, and former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt on Wednesday.

According to Deepan Bhadran, the deputy inspector general of police and head of the SIT and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the charge sheet was submitted against the three on Tuesday in the court of the chief metropolitan magistrate in Ahmedabad.

Setalvad was released on bail on September 2 after her arrest in the last week of June, while Sreekumar, who has been in detention since their arrest on June 25, has filed a bail plea with the Gujarat High Court. The plea will be heard on September 28. Bhatt is already imprisoned at Palanpur, having been sentenced in a 1990 custodial death case.

Setalvad, Sreekumar, and Bhatt have been charged under IPC sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 468 (forgery), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine), 194 (giving or fabricating false evidence with intent to procure conviction of capital offense), 211 (false charge of offense made with intent to injure), and 218 (public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save a person from punishment or property from forfeiture). 

The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch had filed an FIR against individuals on the same accusations, based on a Supreme Court ruling that upheld the clean chit given to then CM Narendra Modi and his council of ministers and bureaucrats in 2002 Gujarat riots.

According to the charges, Teesta Setalvad is accused of tutoring witnesses to give false testimony against Narendra Modi in Gujarat riots cases. Similarly, R B Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt are accused of false testimonies claiming that CM Narendra Modi had ordered police to go slow against riots that had broken up against the Godhra train burning. It was found that both police were not present in the meeting where Modi was accused of giving the instructions.

WSJ writer Tunku Varadarajan tries to wedge Hindu-Muslim divide ahead of the T20 world cup: Here’s how he’s wrong

Jinit Jain
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WSJ writer Tunku Varadarajan tries to wedge Hindu-Muslim divide ahead of the T20 world cup: Here’s how he’s wrong

WSJ writer Tunku Varadarajan has a long and storied history of making contentious comments. So continuing with his tradition, Varadarajan recently posted a controversial tweet trying to wedge the Hindu-Muslim divide in cricket ahead of the forthcoming T20 World Cup.

Tunku, who is the brother of Siddharth Varadarajan, another fearmonger and founder of The Wire, the far-leftist propaganda portal infamous for peddling fake news and stoking paranoia among Muslims, took to Twitter to insinuate that BCCI discriminates against players on the basis of their religion. Tunku tried to allude that Shami, Siraj, Avesh, Umran, and Mohsin are not in the current squad because they are Muslims.

“Shami, Siraj, Avesh, Umran, Mohsin. What do they have in common? & yes, they’re also not part of India’s #T20WorldCup2022 squad. I’m not a conspiracist. But such is the direction of India right now that I have to wonder … & wonder aloud. After all Amit Shah’s son is a BCCI man,” Tunku Varadarajan tweeted.

Tunku Varadarajan
Source: Twitter

To start with, Tunku is factually incorrect. Mohammed Shami is in the reserves for the upcoming T20 world cup. He was also included in the ongoing T20 series with Australia and later in the series against South Africa. However, he was dropped at the last moment after being down with COVID-19, following which Umesh Yadav was roped in as his replacement.

Had Shami been alright, he would have, in all likelihood, made it into the playing 11 and possibly scraped us a victory in the match against Australia on September 20, where the Aussies defeated the Indian team chasing a mammoth score of 209.

As far as Avesh Khan, Mohammed Siraj, and Umran Malik are concerned, they had been selected to represent India at the highest levels of cricket in different formats. In fact, Siraj continues to remain a permanent fixture in India’s test squad. He has been offered enough opportunities in T20 cricket but has, unfortunately, not been able to capitalise on them.

After being a consistent performer in IPL, Avesh Khan got a national call-up last November. However, he too failed to cement his position in the squad, especially after the Indian team’s disastrous run in Asia Cup, where it failed to qualify for the finals and was defeated by a callow yet determined Sri Lanka and a formidable Pakistan team. 

Khan had a dream IPL run but his stats while serving for the national team have been rather ordinary. His economy is on the higher side and his ability to squeeze runs has been dismal, as the numbers show. 

Avesh Khan’s bowling stats (Source: Cricbuzz)

Umran Malik is yet another fast bowler with a promising future ahead. He packs serious pace and can consistently click northwards of the 140 Kmph mark. Malik was briefly associated with the senior cricket team but had failed to imitate his IPL exploits.

Malik has so far played 3 T20Is for India and has a staggering average of 56, which is a metric that determines the number of runs conceded by a bowler per wicket taken. His bowling economy, too, has been horrendous, giving just above 12 runs per over. Cricket experts reckon he still has a lot to learn and is in work in progress, which is why the BCCI continues to place its bets on him and has included him in India A squad.

Tunku Varadarajan
Umran Malik’s bowling figures (Source: Cricbuzz)

As far as Mohsin Khan goes, the bowler from Lucknow Super Giants who took everyone by surprise in last year’s IPL, he is still very young and inexperienced to be a part of the team that is expected to overcome their nerves in crunch situations in the upcoming world cup.

In short, the above-mentioned bowlers are not a part of India’s world cup campaign because they don’t deserve to be a part of it, and not because they are Muslims. The Indian cricket and BCCI are driven by meritocracy, where cricketers have to prove their worth through consistently performing in domestic circuits, IPL, and other such tournaments.

The Indian team for the world cup has Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, R Ashwin, Deepak Chahar, and Mohd Shami as bowlers—a healthy mix of experienced and young players—but importantly, all of whom have proved their mettle on more occasions than one and have statistics to claim their position in the Indian side. 

However, facts and figures are the last things that Tunku is concerned with, given his divisive agenda to fuel hatred and paint gloom under the Narendra Modi-led BJP government in India. Cricket was just another avenue where Tunku Varadarajan could employ his pathological hatred for the Modi government to insinuate that, under his leadership, Muslim cricketers face discrimination.

Tunku’s brother, Siddharth Varadarajan, too, had tried to push such conspiracy theories of casteist and religious discrimination in Indian cricket. In 2018, The Wire published an article that argued if India needs a caste-based quota in cricket. The report was roundly criticised by many, including cricketer Mohammad Kaif, who slammed the far-left organisation for its divisive journalism.

Cricket is among the few unifiers in the country that has broken caste and religious barriers and has united people regardless of their caste, religion, and creed. It has prized merit above everything else, providing opportunities to players based on their sheer talent, with no regard to their faith, caste, or social stature.

Be it Nawab Pataudi in the 70s, Syed Kirmani in the 80s, or Zaheer Khan and Mohd Kaif in the 2000s, Indian Cricket has consistently churned out several Muslim cricketers, not because they were Muslims but because they possessed talent and skill to represent the country at the highest level of cricket.

Aakar Patel makes fearmongering video against NRC, here is how his claims are baseless and wrong

Raju Das
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Aakar Patel makes fearmongering video against NRC, here is how his claims are baseless and wrong

Journalist and Amnesty International India head Aakar Patel posted a video on Twitter today scaremongering about the proposal for nationwide implementation of NRC (National Register of Citizens). Aakar Patel claimed if a nationwide NRC is prepared, people will lose citizenship if the spellings of their names are wrong in their documents.

Aakar Patel claimed that his name is misspelt in his birth certificate, electricity bill and voter identity card, and his father’s name is misspelt on one of his passports. He said that such mistakes happen to many people, but if people in Assam face such mistakes, they may lose their citizenship, and the govt can send them to jail because of it.

He then goes on to narrate how around 19 lakh people’s names were not included in the National Register of Citizens in Assam which was updated in 2019, and said that now these people will have to prove their nationality in front of Foreigner’s Tribunals. Aakar Patel claimed that if there are inconsistencies in the spelling of their names, or they can’t answer questions regarding their nationality, they will be sent to detention centres.

“If this is the damage caused by 100 tribunals in one state, think what will when this goes nationwide across our country. The Foreigners Tribunals need to be held accountable and their proceedings need to be totally transparent. Else, we will face a situation where you and I will our citizenship because the spellings in the documents we have are wrong.”

At the end of the video, text appears claiming that 1.9 million people in Assam are fighting to prove their citizenship. It says that the fate of these people lies in the hands of 100 Foreigners Tribunals and alleged that the proceedings in the Tribunals are unfair and they are enabled by the court. It claimed that the system is designed to exclude.

Almost every claim made by Aakar Patel in the video are wrong, baseless, and aimed at fearmongering. There is no truth in the various claims that he made.

No evidence of exclusion from NRC just for misspelt name

There is no evidence that people’s names were not included in the NRC in Assam due to mismatches of spellings in various documents. People were excluded from NRC for failure to establish linkage with the person named in the legacy documents, submission of invalid or forged documents, and other such serious reasons. There is no credible proof that people’s names were excluded from the NRC only because of minor variations in the spelling of their names.

If there are mismatches of the spelling of the name in different documents, there will be problems in several places, like opening bank accounts, applying for passports etc, it is not an NRC-specific issue, and there are remedial measures for that. If Aakar Patel has his name misspelt in his documents, he should get them corrected them using the respective prescribed procedure, and not use it to run baseless propaganda.

NRC recognised the possibility of errors in spelling, and indeed, there were such errors when the first draft was published in 2018. After that, people were allowed to apply for corrections of their names.

Nobody fighting in Tribunals after exclusion from NRC

The claim that 19 lakh people who were excluded from NRC are fighting to prove their citizenship at Foreigners Tribunals is completely false. Actually, there are uncertainties over the current status of the NRC, and as a result, people excluded from the register are not being asked to prove their citizenship yet.

The issue of NRC is far from over in Assam after the ‘final’ list was published on August 31, 2019, as the ruling BJP government wants a review of the final list claiming large-scale errors in the compilation of the list. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma has been calling for a fresh exercise to collate citizenship data for reverification.

While some Foreigners Tribunals had started to rely on the NRC to decide on cases already before it, the state govt has requested them not use it. Moreover, nobody has been prosecuted for being excluded from NRC.

As the Assam govt considers that the NRC is faulty and not final, the government’s coordinator for NRC has asked the Foreigners Tribunals across Assam to not consider the published NRC as reliable evidence for the disposal of cases relating to citizenship. The state govt further says that since the Registrar General of Citizens Registration (RGCR) has not declared NRC as final and there are errors, there could be changes in the final NRC.

However, the Foreigners Tribunals have rejected this claim and say that the NRC published on 31 August 2019 is final. But the state govt is insisting that it was a ‘supplementary’ list and not the final NRC, and has also approached the Supreme Court for a reverification.

People who were excluded from the NRC were supposed to be issued rejection slips, and they were supposed to approach Foreigners Tribunals with the slips with proof of citizenship to get their names included in the register. But because of the uncertainty over the procedures, and also the Covid-19 pandemic, rejection slips have not been issued yet.

In March this year, the Assam govt told Gauhati High Court that as the status of the NRC is sub-judice at the Supreme Court, the possibility of issuing rejection slips at this point in time appears to be remote.

This means, people excluded from NRC can’t even approach the tribunals now as they don’t have rejection slips, Therefore, they are not fighting to prove their citizenship in Foreigners Tribunals at present, as claimed by Aakar Patel.

They may have to do that if courts decide that the current NRC is final and the rejection slips are issued, but at present that has not happened, and there could be different outcome of the situation. But for now, there is a stalemate over the issue, and nobody is fighting to prove their citizenship just because their names were not there on the NRC.

Proposed nationwide NRC can’t be compared with Assam NRC

Another claim Aakar Patel made is that the problems seen in Assam will be replicated in the entire country if the NRC is prepared nationwide. That is also a completely wrong and baseless allegation, because, even if it happens, the NRC in other states will be different from Assam, as there are several major differences.

The first difference is, the NRC in Assam 2019 was updated, it was not prepared for the first time. Assam already had an NRC which was prepared in 1951, and therefore it was necessary to update it, just like voter lists are updated regularly. When the first census of independent India was done in 1951, a nationwide NRC was also supposed to be prepared. But for some reason, it was done only in Assam.

Therefore, if NRC is prepared nationwide, it will be a completely fresh exercise, with no legacy NRC to be taken as a base, the requirements will be different, and the problems if any will also be different.

Assam is the only state in India where the definition of a citizen is different from all other states. According to the Citizenship Act, the cut-off date for citizenship in India is 26 January 1950, but for Assam, the cut-off date is 25 March 1971, as per the provisions of the Assam Accord.

Just like the nature of the nationwide NRC will be different from the Assam NRC, the requirements are also different. In Assam, updating the NRC was absolutely necessary to solve the issue of illegal immigrants. An error-free NRC in Assam is a must for easy identification of illegal immigrants so that they can be deported soon.

Updating the NRC was also a promise made by the Rajiv Gandhi government by signing the Assam Accord in 1985, and therefore the government was duty-bound to update it. After much delay, it was updated on the orders of the Supreme Court of India. The circumstances and requirements around a nationwide NRC will be different.

Therefore, in summary, everything Aakar Patel said is baseless. No evidence that someone was excluded from the NRC in Assam just for a mismatch in the spelling of names, nobody is being forced to prove citizenship only because of exclusion from NRC as it has not been finalised and rejection slips have not been issued yet, and the NRC in Assam can’t be compared with proposed NRC for rest of India.

Arvind Kejriwal’s wife goes on blocking spree after netizens point out she ‘enjoyed mast movie’ of Swara Bhasker which has ‘bhadde dialogues’

OpIndia Staff
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Arvind Kejriwal’s wife goes on blocking spree after netizens point out she ‘enjoyed mast movie’ of Swara Bhasker which has ‘bhadde dialogues’

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita Kejriwal has gone on a blocking spree on Twitter after netizens pointed out that the Swara Bhasker film, Jahaan Chaar Yaar, which she watched at special screening and praised, has been panned by movie critics as a film with disgusting dialogues.

Kejriwal, along with relatives of other Aam Aadmi Party leaders like wife of Satyendra Jain, who is currently in judicial custody in money laundering case, mother of Raghav Chadha, Alka Chadha and other AAP leader like Dilip Pandey and Saurabh Bharadwaj, saw the film earlier this week.

Replying to Bhasker’s tweet, Sunita Kejriwal had complimented the film and said she had a great time and ‘enjoyed the mast movie’. She had also said ‘amazing acting’ and added an ‘ok’ emoji.

Soon, netizens pointed out the film, which is at grey area on adult comedy and full of dialogues with innuendos and vulgarity, liked by Sunita Kejriwal was panned by critics.

As per a report in Dainik Bhaskar, that the film has disgusting dialogues and mindless comedy and cannot be watched with family. However, when Twitter users pointed this out, they were blocked by Arvind Kejriwal’s wife.

Popular Twitter handles were blocked by Sunita Kejriwal soon after.

The screening was also attended by AAP Spokesperson Sarvesh Mishra, YouTuber Ajit Anjum and some more people we couldn’t quite identify. 

Swara Bhasker starrer ‘Jahan Chaar Yaar’ gets 1.1 rating on IMDB

Swara Bhasker’s latest film “Jahan Chaar Yaar” was released on Friday (September 16, 2022), but neither the audience nor the ratings on IMDb pleased the film’s producers. The film has an IMDb rating of 1.1, making it one of the worst films of all time. The attendance of AAP officials and their families in the theatre to witness Swara Bhasker’s film, however, substantiates the fact that not just AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal but almost everyone associated with him enjoys Bollywood films.

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